Today I turned on the A/C right after starting the car and heard a lot of noise from under the hood. Popping the hood, the belt tensioner was sliding up and down the belt quite a bit (never seen it really move before, except manually when installing a belt), making a popping noise. Turning the A/C off, it stopped. On, it instantly starts its movement again. Is this normal? Does it just need to be oiled somehow, or is the a/c compressor even supposed to be putting on such an odd load? Need ideas or solutions!
I will note that occasionally a heard a pop here and there, but found it to be the tensioner before (hose to ear and around engine bay). It was very rapid today though, and loud.
Guessing the tensioner(not the pulley) is binding internally... Have a friend whose Chrysler mini van had that problem...
The shop he took it to said it was the timing chain...
Verify smooth operation by removing the belt and move it through it's travel...
Also, this is NOT a TC as my avatar seems to say, Sport here. You mean the timing chain was near the belt tensioner, so the sound was coming just from that general area? I have no idea where its at on the 2.3.
Doesn't make a difference as to what engine... It was kinda hard to tell on the van(3.3 v6)as it has the east/west engine... When we tried to move the tensioner it wouldn't budge, but was jumping with the AC on... Finally with a big breaker bar we moved it enough to get the belt off...
If it's not the tensioner then maybe some problem with the compressor, but I doubt it...
Oh, I know. I was just trying to figure out the Chrysler scenario, what the tensioner vs timing chain thing was. Are they near each other or something?
I'll pull the belt off, but I've never had too much of a problem getting the belt off. All I know is the tensioner is doing something odd. Is there a spot to grease the things?
the tensioner on the 5.0 is just a big spring with a berring and a wheel. Mine never seized, but it broke on me twice...
replace the tensioner and all should be well.
If the belt is still tight and the tensioner doesn't feel weaker than the last time you had the belt off, I vote for a binding AC compressor causing the belt to stretch a bit then snap back when the compressor gets "over the hump".
Do you have room to get a socket wrench on the compressor's pulley bolt, to try spinning it by hand?